165 workers at id Software, the studio behind the Doom and Quake franchises, have elected to unionize with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) in yet another wall-to-wall developer union within Microsoft.
The new union encompasses developers, artists, programmers, and other disciplines, and has been formally recognized by Microsoft in accordance with its pledge to remain “neutral” with regard to unions within its ranks and voluntarily recognize any that emerge. Union members suggest issues of concern for the group include the instability of the games industry writ large, as well as the necessity of remote work.
“I’m very proud to be a part of this effort to organize our studio, to have a voice in decisions that directly affect myself and my coworkers,” said senior VFX artist and organizing committee member Caroline Pierrot. “In an industry that has proven to be very unstable over the last few years, more unions means more power to the workers and a real shot at shaping the future of the industry for the better.”
Microsoft has seen a cascade of new unions formed at its game studios in recent years, a large number of which have been under its most recent acquisition, Activision Blizzard. Diablo developers unionized this past August, as did Blizzard’s story and franchise development team, the entire World of Warcraft team unionized last year, and the Overwatch developers followed in May of this year. Meanwhile, Raven Software workers won their first contract earlier this year, Zenimax QA workers won a contract in May, and Bethesda’s union is still in active negotiations.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to [email protected].
